Maria Shriver Reveals She Was Scheduled to Have Lunch With Eric Dane Days After His Death

Maria Shriver is mourning the death of friend and collaborator Eric Dane, who died at age 53 on February 19.

In a post shared on Saturday, February 21, in her subscriber-based Sunday Paper newsletter (via Us Weekly), the 70-year-old activist revealed that she planned to meet up with the late Euphoria actor before his death.

Dane, who died less than a year after revealing his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis, was working with Shriver’s Penguin Random House publishing imprint, The Open Field, on his upcoming memoir.

“Eric bravely shared his ALS diagnosis with the world over this past year. He advocated for increased research and showed up in every way he could to focus our attention on this devastating neurological disease,” Shriver wrote.

“My team at The Open Field was honored when Eric chose our imprint to publish his memoir,” she continued. “He told me he wanted to write his book to share his story with the world.”

My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments is scheduled to release later this year. Dane was working alongside Shriver on the project until his death.

“He wrote it so that his family had something to be proud of,” the former first lady of California wrote. “Eric and I were scheduled to have lunch two weeks ago, but he wasn’t feeling well that morning, so we rescheduled for next week. His passing is another powerful reminder that today is all any of us have. Next week isn’t guaranteed.”

According to Penguin Random House, Dane’s ALS diagnosis “caused him to slow down and reflect on the moments that had shaped him. In My Book of Days, Dane shares these reflections and invites readers to do the same with their lives.”

The book’s description adds, “Told through a series of ‘days’ that each illuminate a defining experience or emotional truth, My Book of Days captures everything from the grind of his early years in Hollywood and the hard-won peace of sobriety to the profound clarity that came with his ALS diagnosis.”

Aside from Dane’s posthumous memoir, the actor also recorded his final interview for Netflix’s Famous Last Words series, which was available to stream after his death.

The emotional interview, which was said to be conducted in secret, features Dane speaking directly to his teenage daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14 — whom he shares with wife Rebecca Gayheart — towards the end of the special.